Meditation

The term meditation refers to a broad variety of practices that includes techniques designed to promote relaxation, build internal energy or life force (qi, ki, prana, etc.) and develop compassion, love, patience, generosity, and forgiveness. A particularly ambitious form of meditation aims at effortlessly sustained single-pointed concentration meant to enable its practitioner to enjoy an indestructible sense of well-being while engaging in any life activity. 

The word meditation carries different meanings in different contexts. Meditation has been practiced since antiquity as a component of numerous religious traditions and beliefs. Meditation often involves an internal effort to self-regulate the mind in some way. Meditation is often used to clear the mind and ease many health concerns, such as high blood pressure, depression, and anxiety. It may be done sitting, or in an active way—for instance, Buddhist monks involve awareness in their day-to-day activities as a form of mind-training. Prayer beads or other ritual objects are commonly used during meditation in order to keep track of or remind the practitioner about some aspect of that training.

Both physical and psychological or emotional stress affect the body in all kinds of ways, not the least of which is fertility. Stress decreases women’s fertility in part because it can stop ovulation and menstruation altogether. Short of that, women under stress are less likely to get pregnant in any given cycle than are women not experiencing any particular psychological distress. Stressed women also face a higher risk of very early miscarriage. 

Studies have clearly demonstrated the fertility effects of stress in men as well. Researchers collected semen samples from their volunteers at a time of stress and again at a time of no extraordinary stress. The first (stressed) samples showed lower sperm counts, lower motility, lower semen quality, and a higher percentage of abnormal sperm compared to those taken later (not under stress). Fortunately, full fertility was restored when the stress disappeared. It may means that reducing stress can reverse fertility problems.

Spending a few minutes a day centering yourself and focusing positively on your body, your health, your cycle, and your fertility may be a great way to tap into.

Learning to meditate can be a daunting task for the beginner but in many cases the reason for one's trepidation is simply that the concept of meditation has been over-complicated.

For proper meditation is recommended to:

1. Make sure that you've got some time when you will not be disturbed to meditate. This does not have to be an extended period. 5-10 minutes is plenty to start. You may be surprised at how long 5-10 minutes feels when you are meditating. Set a timer on your phone or on your stove so that you're not peeking every two minutes and to make sure you wake up if you doze off.
2.  Choose a time and place that is appropriate. You want to be comfortable, not too hot or too cold and in a place where you aren't going to be in danger of bugs crawling on you or helpful dogs licking your face. You should also choose a time when you are not too tired or you might just fall asleep. If you do fall asleep, don't worry, just try again tomorrow.
3. Begin by relaxing and observing your mind. Do not try to block thoughts that come to your mind at first, the idea of "no mind" is a very advanced trick so don't even bother with it at first. Just note what thoughts come to your mind and them set them aside. Relax, observe. Timer beeps, get up move on.
4.  Repeat daily; Twice a day if possible and gradually increase the time you meditate to 20-30 minutes before seeking out and practicing more advanced techniques.
5. Keep a journal of your experiences, thoughts and feelings about your meditation in your Book of Shadows.
   Note: It may help to do 20 minutes or so of Yoga before meditation to facilitate the process. It is also possible to enjoy meditating while doing yoga or while walking but it is important that you know the moves or the path well before attempting this.

The 3 most common mistakes people make when meditating:

Knowing just what you should do and knowing how to get it done is very important. Also, you ought to learn how to do it correctly. However, that’s just part of the picture; it is necessary, but it is not sufficient. You also have to find out what not to do, what mistakes to circumvent. The easiest method to achieve that is to discover what mistakes others are making so that you can steer clear of making those very same mistakes.

This principle also applies for various meditation techniques. A great many succeed there, however, many others make mistakes and fail. Offered below are the 3 most common mistakes that folks make with meditation.

1. People don’t concentrate properly. This is important because concentrating is the most important step in meditation. Start being aware of the way you breathe. Listen to your breathing. When you have stress, you have the tendency to breathe fast and superficial. This is not good for your health, or for your inner pace. Breathe in deeply. By concentrating on your breathing you are telling your body, mind and spirit, that you are ready to go into a different state of mind, a different space, a different world. This way you are leaving behind all your problems.
2.  Second, people don’t connect with nature. Connecting with natural world will help you find your own path, literally or metaphoric speaking. What you ought to do then is concentrate on your surroundings.
3. Finally, people don’t connect with their inner self. The way to stay away from this mistake is to concentrate on your own body. Start by analyzing how tensioned you are. The main parts of your body where stress is accumulated are the neck, shoulders, stomach, back and legs. Try to relax the tensioned zones and visualize the energy that goes out of your body, straight to earth, where is transformed in another form of energy.

Recognize these kinds of prevalent mistakes with meditation technique and carefully avoid them. As a substitute, follow the suggestions above with regard to doing it correctly. You will then be able to obtain much better results.

Some research has indicated that meditation can have negative effects, often relating to surfacing of pre-existing trauma or depression.

There are rare cases of meditation-induced psychosis, primarily in persons with pre-existing psychotic conditions, and also cases where meditation had adverse effects in individuals without psychiatric history.

In media reports, people have attributed unexpected effects for increasing fear and anxiety panic or "meltdowns" after practicing; which, could expose bipolar vulnerability or repressed posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms.

Meditating benefits are two fold. Some of them are direct while others are indirect. You will have these benefits if you meditate more frequently and for a short period that stressing for hours if you are a beginner. Stress can also affect our fertility. Besides, you might have seen many cases of babies dying before they even see the light of this world because of their mother’s stressful conditions. Doctors always advice mothers to be relax and not to be stress when they are pregnant. Scientists aren’t sure of the exact link between stress and fertility issues, however, test subjects that took part in stress-reduction techniques were more likely to get pregnant.